Avisynth is basically a frame server. It opens a video file, applies all kinds of filters and modifications and serves this virtual clip frame by frame to another application.

It works with plain text files. Avisynth has his own scripting langue. It's open source.. free of charge. It works very fine together with VirtualDub.

Avisynth has his own, build in plugins. But lots of other plugins are available as *.dll files. They are all written by amateurs. Some of those amateurs are very talented. With the MVTools package for example it is possible to do very sophisticated grain removing and frame interpolation.

As far as I know, no one is transfering 8mm films like I do it (with machine vision cameras)commercially. But the HD Sniper from Moviestuff comes close. You can ask them for a frame accurate transfer: one film frame= one AVI frame (progressive). Uncompressed to harddisk if possible. Those uncompressed frame accurate AVI files are ideal to keep as master files and for later Avisynth use. The Huffyuv lossless codec can reduce the size of these files without any loss. The play speed of a frame accurate AVI file is not important, it's just a number in the header of the file, telling the computer how many frames/sec to show. Easy enough to change this in post.

Hello fred, I am a big fan of your clips on Vimeo, and I would like to start using the avisynth software for editing. I shoot reg-8 and am planning to do a Rank transfer, uncompressed to a hard drive. This will be the first time I have done this. I realize it will be AVI, but I am not sure what codec to apply; I'm assuming MPEG4? Maybe you can tell I'm new at the computer end of things, but I do want to learn. Any advice you can offer will be appreciated. Brad M.

. I realize it will be AVIDid the people who are doing the job tell you this? If not, best to double check, because there are many approaches to doing this and only one of them is AVI.The only way you will need to decide what codec to use is if they ask you. Otherwise, you'll get whatever they give you, and you will need to ensure that your computer is set up with an appropriate decoder. This isn't usually a problem, since most transfer places will use one of the Blackmagic uncompressed codecs which are cheap or free. Although you could, you don't really want to use MPEG-4; it's a distribution codec and while it has great performance for Youtube, it isn't ideal for mastering work. If they're saying it's uncompressed, it won't be MPEG-4, anyway.AVIsynth is a great piece of software, mainly for jobs such as batch conversion, recompression, rescaling and applying burnins.

Freddy, as always, you've got some really good work going on there. I am extremely impressed. Care to talk some more about how you're doing the original transfers?P

I am using a relative cheap machine vision camera, 1024 x 768 pixels. In trigger modus, a machine vision camera takes one picture when it gets a pulse on the trigger input. Then it waits for the next trigger pulse and so on. The trigger pulse is generated by the projector, with an optical IR switch. So every time a new frame arrives, the camera takes a picture of it. Then the software is saving this picture as an AVI frame to a 'growing' AVI file. I always use uncompressed RGB for my masters. Play speed of the projector does not matter. The result is always one film frame = one digital frame. I can even stop the projector while in capturing modus. Then the camera and software will just wait for a new frame to capture. This stop will be not visible in the end result. Variable speed has also no effect whatsoever on the end result. The maximum capture speed depends on the computer system. With a fast computer and Raid-O harddisks, it is possible to capture at 30fps in full resolution. It is also possible to save an image sequence (TIF or BMP). The software is auto numbering the files.

The machine cam is sending the frames over the fire wire to the computer in an uncompressed, not debayered format: Y800. The capture software is doing the debayering on the fly. So the preview is in full color, and the saved result too.

For more information please visit my websiteSome pictures are outdated, I must urgent do a website update.

Frank Vine has developed special capture software, based on the ActiveDcam engine. This software has an exellent HQ debayering option, live RGB histogram while capturing etc...http://www.cine2digits.co.uk/

Frank is also developing a special RGB backlight source.I have one here and I will test it as soon as possible.I'm using a Computar macro zoom lens, so my camera is 'looking' straight to the film frame. For the backlight I'm using 5W White Luxeon Star Leds. Later I will use Franks RGB light source of cource. To diffuse the backlight I'm using a piece of 'scanhancer' plate.http://www.scanhancer.com/

Please ask them for a one film frame = one digital frame transfer. Progressive, no interlacing if possible.

This will be the first time I have done this. I realize it will be AVI, but I am not sure what codec to apply; I'm assuming MPEG4?

Like Phil already has said: Mpeg4 is a distribution format. Do not use it for a master file. If you are on a Windows machine I would suggest to ask them if they can deliver the files in uncompressed RGB24 AVI format. You will have to give them a portable HD then because those files are huge.

Please ask them for a one film frame = one digital frame transfer. Progressive, no interlacing if possible.

Like Phil already has said: Mpeg4 is a distribution format. Do not use it for a master file. If you are on a Windows machine I would suggest to ask them if they can deliver the files in uncompressed RGB24 AVI format. You will have to give them a portable HD then because those files are huge.